For humans, sleep is a disconnection. The human body, having endured the day by seeing, hearing, and feeling countless pieces of information while being forced to make the best judgment at every moment, eventually comes to a time when it must sleep as if dead. It must block out all senses, let go of its nerves, end the exhausting day, and be reborn tomorrow.
"Hugh. Wake up. The moon is bright."
"..."
"This is serious. Seeing as you don't even whine for just 10 minutes, you truly do not intend to wake up."
If the rest that should rightfully be given is not given, this body, which initially moves while a little tired, gradually deteriorates and breaks down. That was exactly how I was right now.
"Does a human collapse like this just from not sleeping for a few days? In my time, there were even those who fought wars without sleeping day and night."
"They survived until then... because they endured that..."
"I did not expect my companion to be so frail."
"For a vampire who doesn't sleep to say that is unfair...! Ugh."
I admit I am frail. But I want to argue that it can't be helped in this environment. I was a patient to begin with, yet I scurried all around the duchy, got sucked dry, suffered from exhaustion, and still followed along to the tribunal. If I didn't collapse after all that, I'd be a new breed of humanity second only to vampires.
On top of that.
"Who holds a trial in the middle of the night...? It's bedtime for good children."
"Night is precisely the time of vampires."
"It seems vampires are just a gathering of bad children..."
"Look who's talking. You are not such a good child either."
Anyway, having noticed my condition, Tir did not whine or urge me, but leisurely rose from her seat.
"Then, what will you do about Lir's verdict? Do you think it will be fine to postpone it for a few days?"
"Huh? We agreed to do it today. Can we postpone that?"
"It's only a few days at most. A few days pass in the blink of an eye, do they not?"
"Even if a bug flew into your eye, you could probably open it again after a few days."
Is this the vampire way of thinking? There is no hesitation in postponing a promise. Well, for Tir, who was visiting her country again after three hundred years, that might be understandable. On top of that, Tir declared confidently.
"And since I am the progenitor of this country, what could possibly not be allowed?"
"As expected..."
Living power—no, dead power—no, power itself that has come back to life. I raised my thumb while lying face down.
"I'm begging you... I think I'll be fine if I just rest a little..."
"I see. Rest well. However, Hugh..."
Tir lowered her voice slightly and poked my back as if a little shy.
"...When can we spend the next night together? The night is long and a bit lonely."
"It hasn't even been that long since last time?!"
"Even then, it passed so instantly that I couldn't even grasp what was what. I feel like I would understand better if I could savor it slowly once more."
"When you put it that way, it makes me sound like some King of Rabbits or something! Tir, three days is not an instant! Go ask anyone. They'll be appalled by my peerless stamina!"
You would have died several times if you weren't a vampire! It was that much of a grueling battle! Ah, wait. Getting excited is making my head hurt again. It might be a bit cowardly, but I might have to use the power of the Demon God next time...
"Your complexion does not look good. I can definitely feel the flow of your blood has weakened. Mmm. I cannot push you any harder than this."
Tir prepared to leave, leaving me alone. She draped a coat over herself and gathered the scattered darkness in the room to form it into a parasol. Lightly prepared, Tir looked at me lying in bed and spoke with a smile.
"I will call a physician, so rest and recuperate. I will tell them to wait a moment."
"I think I'll be fine if I just rest a little... so you can go..."
"You still do not seem to understand 'a little' of ordinary time. I will be going."
The door slowly closed. Thanks to Tir gathering all the darkness, even at the top of this Full Moon Castle, a faint sunset shone through. Until the moment the door closed, Tir looked at the room, slightly drenched in red light, and fell into thought.
'When our times are different, such a large gap appears. Filling this gap will also be one of the joys, but someday we must reach the same place. Whether I live an ordinary time, or Hugh becomes a vampire.'
Leaving a little regret behind as she stepped out, Tir tilted her head in puzzlement.
'How strange. Previously, I thought it was fine to live an ordinary time. But now, with Hugh here, I want to enjoy this time forever. Is it that when one's circumstances change, one's desires also change...? Next time, if there is enough time, I must discuss this with Hugh again and again.'
Right. I wonder what will happen.
I'm not really the type to live with set future plans anyway. When circumstances change, desires change. Although my desire to find all the Demon Gods hasn't changed, I am satisfied with the fact that my life right now is comfortable.
'...That will also be a joy. Hehe. I didn't know such a time would come for me.'
Especially since Tir is beautiful, powerful, and above all, devoted to me. It's not easy to gain an absolute ruler who grants all my requests and embraces my desires. Being a paramour is a good job.
Right. Good. It's to the point where, for a normal human, it wouldn't be bad to make it the final destination of life.
If the final destination stays where it is, that is.
While I was lying face down on the bed that still held Tir's faint scent, in a state between sleeping and waking, the door suddenly burst open. Lir Nightingale, carrying a small medical bag, strode in, completely unconcerned that this was the Progenitor's room.
"I heard there is a patient, so I came. Where is the patient?"
"Ughhhh."
"...? This time, you are not even on the periphery of being a patient. You are perfectly fine except for a slight decline in vitality."
Diagnosing my condition in an instant, Lir fiddled with an ampoule instead of her medical bag and asked.
"Would you like some nutritional blood?"
"I'm not a vampire, you know..."
"It has been refined so humans can consume it. It has the effect of tricking the body into thinking the blood volume has momentarily increased. It's a specific remedy for regaining energy immediately."
"I'll be fine if I just rest a little, so please leave me be..."
"Good choice. Time is an even better specific remedy for regaining energy than that."
Lir nodded, dragged a chair over, placed it where I could see her, and sat down.
"...But what about the trial?"
"The Progenitor entrusted the health of her paramour to me. I was notified that I don't need to participate in the trial until then. Of course, they are still discussing my punishment in my absence."
"How do you think it will turn out?"
"I do not know. The Progenitor seems to have no intention of punishing me, but who knows. Perhaps someday I too will be attacked and killed like my father."
"Seeing as you speak of an uncertain 'someday' again, it seems you won't die right away... That's a relief. Then I'll rest for a bit."
She seemed to realize that she had survived too. What an easy life. Then shall I get some deep sleep with peace of mind.
With my face buried in the bed, I briefly fell asleep.
"I'm awake!"
When I came to, my head was much clearer. I jumped up with my restored condition and saw Lir sitting in the exact same posture as before, asking her.
"You are awake."
"How long did I sleep?"
"About three hours."
Three hours. If Tir spoke of it, it would be a short time that passes in the blink of an eye. But for a human, it is a time that can pull up a wrecked condition. It was just that my body was drained of this and that, but there was nothing wrong with my health itself, so I quickly came to my senses.
I did some light stretching and checked my body's condition.
"Ugh. I feel refreshed. It even feels like I've gotten a bit healthier."
"You were healthy to begin with, Paramour. You were probably the healthiest among the patients brought in with a penetrating wound to the stomach."
"I rarely got sick, but I wasn't this robust. Has my physical prime arrived?"
Actually, it wasn't my prime. It was probably because there were outstanding blood sorcerers nearby. With hundreds of vampires around, it seems their influence had a slight effect on my body as well.
I checked my cards once, then slipped the remaining cards into my pocket and asked.
"Even with an Elder dead, the duchy is quite calm. I thought it would turn into total chaos when I heard the news of the Elder's death."
"The duchy is a nation that exists under the Progenitor's power."
"But Tir has lost her power now, hasn't she? Wouldn't it get a bit noisy?"
Lir answered my question clearly.
"The Progenitor's power has not gone anywhere. Her dominance is merely lingering and remaining within the Progenitor's body. Unlike what my father intended, she broke free from the shackles by having it circle back and linger within herself. The Progenitor has reached a new realm on her own."
"On her own? Someone could have helped her, right? Like your father."
"My father never helped anyone. But separate from that, it is impossible to help the Progenitor."
"Why are you so certain?"
"Who could possibly exhibit blood sorcery equal to or greater than the Progenitor's, and how could they help the Progenitor objectively perceive and dominate her own blood? It would only be possible if there were two Progenitors."
In other words, if someone did help, it could only be the Progenitor Tirkanjak herself. But since that would be impossible, Tir awakened on her own—Lir concluded as such.
...What is this? Is this the insight of the one who will later be called the Medical Saint? She's roughly reading the flow of blood without even having to probe the body. Is this not blood sorcery, but just a keen eye?
No, wait. At this level... perhaps, it might have been possible for the Blood Demon God to be born even without Tir.
But how did she do it?
"Hold on. Miss Lir Nightingale. You seem to possess an outstanding ability to diagnose others."
"You only need to know how to diagnose as much as necessary."
"No, more than that. Miss Lir Nightingale. You broke free from the blood shackles, didn't you?"
"I did. However, since the Progenitor also cast off her shackles, it has lost much of its meaning."
"I can let it slide for Tir since blood sorcery and the blood shackles themselves are her own power. But how did you escape the shackles?"
Ruskinia ordered Lir to kill her.
Accordingly, Lir tried to kill Ruskinia.
But she failed, and Valdamir killed Ruskinia instead. The reason for that, from what I read, was because Ruskinia, having broken free from the shackles, plotted a rebellion against the Progenitor.
I thought Ruskinia's actions had solved quite a few of my questions, but the biggest one remained.
How did Lir escape the shackles?
"...That is top secret. I cannot reveal it without the Progenitor's permission."
"Tir has already broken free from the shackles. With the Elder at the top of the shackles now, it doesn't matter if you tell me. Besides, I'm her paramour."
"Is... that so."
The Progenitor had already broken free from the shackles. Furthermore, the method was somewhat similar to the one Ruskinia had found. Deeming it unnecessary to hide it from me and Tir, Lir opened her mouth.
"It is the circulation of dominance. Whatever the result, it is enough if one can exert dominance over oneself through blood sorcery. It would be ideal if one could make the dominance linger within oneself as the Progenitor did... but for a vampire who gained immortality through the external power of true blood, doing it alone is nearly impossible. So my father created a loop of circulation using me as a medium. The dominance..."
No, I roughly know that part. I'm a mind reader, so I read your and Valdamir's thoughts and figured out the truth to some extent.
I want the final piece.
The mind of Ruskinia, who is dead and can no longer be read.
"Then what about you?"
"...Yes?"
"You also broke free from the shackles, didn't you? What was your medium?"
There is only one thing I'm curious about.
What did Ruskinia feel when she briefly broke free from the shackles?
You say we can't know because she's already dead? There's no need to know. You just have to look at her actions. The mind is merely the force that drives actions.
"Why did Ruskinia let you escape from the shackles?"
What Ruskinia's actions achieved—that is what's important.
Just as Lir realized what I was pointing out and flinched—
I sensed a thought from outside. Something was approaching without even a secret presence.
I am well aware that vampires are inherently quiet and have a faint presence. Because of that, vampires would often intentionally reveal their presence and make noise as they approached. It was because they had to show respect to the Progenitor and her paramour.
But right now... it held clear hostility.
Tsk. As expected. The world wouldn't just leave me alone. This is going to be a bit tough.
I plunged my hand deep into my pocket and fiddled with the cards.
-----
"...I have heard everyone's opinions well."
Just as Tirkanjak thought, a few days was not much time to a vampire. They were the ones who accepted the trial held 10 years after the Elder murder incident as such. They did not become impatient or anxious because it was delayed by a few days.
"Then let us decide Lir's punishment after testing her abilities. I will end today's discussion here. I assume there are no objections."
"Oh, Progenitor. I have a declaration to make instead."
...The 'Elder Murder Incident' was—
Bang. An Elder opened the door and walked in. The Blood Monk, Dogo. A martial monk who had left in search of truth, only to become a vampire after being promised eternal suffering. He was supposed to be resting due to his injuries, but he appeared in a perfectly fine state without a single wound 'not long after'.
Taking the place of the absent Valdamir, Dogo stepped forward, put his hands together respectfully in front of the Progenitor, and looked around the room.
"There is a matter that must be judged before Lir's case. It is several times more significant and urgent than that."
"What is it?"
More than the incident of a mere Yeirling casting off her shackles and killing the eccentric Elder, it was the fact that the Progenitor Tirkanjak had eliminated the blood shackles herself.
"Tirkanjak. Our Progenitor who bears the name of calamity. Our Master who will be our beginning and our end."
"...?"
"The reason we were bound by the blood shackles and promised suffering was because those shackles were powerful and absolute."
The vampires exchanged glances. A few closed their eyes, feigning ignorance. Collusion, scheming, tacit approval, watching and waiting. Countless political views were exchanged within their pale, expressionless faces.
Vampires are cold. Because their blood flows calmly.
Vampires are rational. Because they have no emotions.
Vampires are mechanical. Because they do not act capriciously.
Vampires are blind. Because they cannot disobey their master.
"However, you cannot feel anything right now. No surprise, no fear, no joy, no pain. Not even strength."
"How impudent. Do you even know what you are saying right now?"
—All those traits exist because there is a master who oppresses.
"I, the monk Dogo, request a trial for your qualifications at this place."
How dare a subject defy their master.
How dare the dead defy the living.
How dare a believer... seat a god upon the judgment seat and pass a verdict.
A heaven-defying trial has begun.